Himalayas will melt by 2100 if we fail to get climate change under control

Himalayas will melt by 2100 if we fail to get climate change under control

The Hindu Kush Himalaya glaciers feed 10 of the world's most important river systems, including the Ganges, Indus, Yellow, Mekong and Irrawaddy, and supply billions of people with food, energy, clean air and income.

Himalayas will melt by 2100 if we fail to get climate change under control.

A first-of-its-kind study of the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region found that even the most ambitious Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century would lead to 2.1 degrees rise in temperatures.

This will result into melting of one-third of the region's glaciers, a critical water source for some 250 million mountain dwellers and the 1.65 billion others living in the river valleys below in the Asia.

What happens if climate efforts fail?

1. If global climate efforts fail, the study warns that current emissions would lead to five degrees rise in temperatures and a loss of two-thirds of the region's glaciers by 2100.

"This is the climate crisis you have not heard of," said Philippus Wester of Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), who led the study.

2. Global warming is on track to transform the frigid, glacier-covered mountain peaks of the region, cutting across eight countries, to bare rocks in a little less than a century.

4. The glaciers feed 10 of the world's most important river systems, including the Ganges, Indus, Yellow, Mekong and Irrawaddy, and directly or indirectly supply billions of people with food, energy, clean air and income.

"Impacts on people in the region, one of the world's most fragile and hazard-prone mountain regions, will range from worsened air pollution to an increase in extreme weather events," Wester added.

Climate change will also reduce how much food farmers will be able to produce in this part of the world. About 70 per cent of the population of this region are farmers, and there is already great food insecurity there.

Hindu Kush Himalaya assessment

1. Styled after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, the assessment is the first and most authoritative study of its kind to provide an assessment of one of the world's most significant, yet often overlooked, mountain regions.

2. Developed over five years, the report includes insight by more than 350 researchers and policy experts from 22 countries and 185 organisations.

3. With 210 authors, 20 review editors and 125 external reviewers, the report provides an unprecedented insight into the region's distinct environment, people and wildlife.

"The size and global significance of the region is indisputable, yet this is the first report to lay down in definitive detail the region's critical importance to the well-being of billions and its alarming vulnerability, especially in the face of climate change," ICIMOD Director General David Molden said in a statement.